‘Cold Challenge’ of the Four States

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By Dave Horvath

Neosho Daily News - Neosho, MO

By Dave Horvath

Posted May. 3, 2014 at 10:06 PM

By Dave Horvath

Posted May. 3, 2014 at 10:06 PM

Playing around on Facebook can be rewarding. Teen Challenge of the 4 States is $140 richer for the efforts of some local teens who made the donation after taking a challenge they submitted to on Facebook. In the true spirit of giving, the trio, between 14 and 17 years old, wish to remain anonymous because they performed the deed to help some deserving people, and not to attain credit.

The main spokesman said a “cold water challenge” is going around.

“And if you get challenged, you’ve got 24 hours to jump in the creek. And when you jump in the creek you donate some money to charity,” he said. “Well, we all got challenged, so we decided to donate our money to Teen Challenge.”

He said his sister, who challenged him, also donated some of the funds presented to Teen Challenge on Friday. His portion came out of his paycheck from a job, while the two girls that accompanied him both said they had done some extra chores to raise the money. His parents said they also accepted the challenge and jumped into the creek.

The young man said people are challenging each other across the social medium, making donations to other causes.

“Some kids were donating to Africa, some are donating to their church youth group, but we were challenged and I decided to donate to Teen Challenge,” he said.

He said Teen Challenge was the beneficiary because Janie Rogers, food service director and nurse, Teen Challenge, is family.

“I’ve worked with the guys and they’re great guys and I thought it would be best since most of their money goes to bills and living here, so we decided to give our money to have them go do something fun, since they don’t really get to do much.”

He said they are sending the students of Teen Challenge to a night at the movies.

As he spoke, the guys involved in the Teen Challenge program were outside working in the expansive garden at the 18527 E. Missouri Highway 86 facility outside of Neosho.

Kathy Lowens, director, Teen Challenge, said students with Teen Challenge are asked to pay just a small percentage of the cost of their 14-month program, which actually covers about two weeks.

“And so the rest of our program is paid for by donations from good people like this, who take on a challenge,” she said.

Lowens said this is probably the first time that Teen Challenge has received a donation from such an origin and that she is so excited about the kids.

“A lot of people talk about the kids doing things that they shouldn’t be doing, getting into trouble, not using their time wisely, hanging out, but these kids did something extra special.

Page 2 of 2 - “They took on a challenge and they decided to give the money from that challenge to Teen Challenge; and we really appreciate that.”

Lowens encourages others to accept such challenges that may come before them.

The teens presented Lowens with $120, and Lowens announced that Rogers was adding $20 to their donation.